In recent years, the popularity of hobby and custom cars has continued to increase. These cars are typically constructed from kits. In many cases, these hobby or custom cars employ what is referred to as a "suicide" door that is typical of vintage car designs. A "suicide" door is a door that hinges about its rear end and basically swings open in a front to back fashion. "Suicide" doors are not without their problems and drawbacks. One of the problems associated with "suicide" doors is that they can have a tendency to pop open during travel. The tendency of the vehicle occupant is to reach out to retain the door and too often this act leads to an accident.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for a relatively simple manually actuated door lock kit that can be installed into hobby and custom-type cars so as to securely lock the door to an adjacent frame structure that forms part of the vehicle.